Shifted-elementary-mode representation for partially coherent vectorial fields

TL;DR

This paper introduces a shifted-elementary-mode representation for partially coherent, partially polarized electromagnetic fields, enabling efficient propagation of non-paraxial vector fields by decomposing them into uncorrelated, shifted, fully coherent modes.

Contribution

It presents a novel shifted-elementary-mode framework that simplifies the propagation of complex partially coherent vector fields, improving computational efficiency over traditional correlation function methods.

Findings

Efficient propagation of non-paraxial fields using elementary modes

Applicable to fields emitted by light-emitting diodes

Demonstrated on quasihomogeneous, rotationally symmetric fields

Abstract

A representation of partially spatially coherent and partially polarized stationary electromagnetic fields is given in terms of mutually uncorrelated, transversely shifted, fully coherent and polarized elementary electric-field modes. This representation allows one to propagate non-paraxial partially coherent vector fields using techniques for spatially fully coherent fields, which are numerically far more efficient than methods for propagating correlation functions. A procedure is given to determine the elementary modes from the radiant intensity and the far-zone polarization properties of the entire field. The method is applied to quasihomogeneous fields with rotationally symmetric cosine-modulated radiant intensity distributions. This is an adequate model for fields emitted by, e.g., many light-emitting diodes.